Hello Beautiful
by Agent Twinkle Toes
Summary: Prelude to the limo scene, starting from when Chuck first met Blair. Title subject to change.


**A/N: This little one shot just popped into my head when I was re-watching the limo scene. And yes, I know that I should be writing the next chapter for my other story, but I just couldn't continue with it until I finished this. The next chapter for TSTF should be out by this weekend at the latest—my last exam is on Friday. And I don't own any of this. Not even the Donne; do I look like a 17****th**** century metaphysical poet to you? If anyone's curious, the two italicized snippets are from John Donne's **_**Air and Angels**_** and **_**The Broken Heart**_**.**

**By the way, if anyone has a better title or summary for this fic, tell me. ;)  
**

_Twice or thrice had I loved thee, _

_Before I knew thy face or name._

_---_

Four year old Chuck Bass sees Blair Waldorf for the first time. He is breathless, caught up in the way her red satin headband sets off her dark chocolate curls, the way she smiles prettily at his new best friend, Nate Archibald, and the way she sits daintily in her princess dress. She's perfect and has him hooked. For life.

---

By the time he's six, Chuck Bass knows that he doesn't stand a chance. Nate Archibald is the embodiment of all things golden—well the male version anyways. Serena's had the golden girl crown since she was pushed out of Lily (what is it now? Is she still with Claus with a 'C' or is it Klaus with a 'K' now?). He stands next to Blair, watching her as she watches Nate and Serena run off to play in the snow. She gazes wistfully into the distance, and he can sense that she wishes she were as light and carefree as Serena van der Woodsen. Yet, Eleanor would likely kill her on the spot if she so much as wrinkled her one of a kind Eleanor Waldorf original. Who even dresses a six year old in an original? Blair stands there shivering slightly, so Chuck unravels his favorite wool and cashmere blend scarf from his neck and wraps it around her graceful neck instead. She reaches for his hand and squeezes it gratefully. If he can't be her Prince Charming, at least he can be her platonic scarf boy, right?

---

On his eight birthday, Chuck discovers the truth behind his mother's death. Bart Bass drunkenly rages at him; "You killed Misty!" And all this time, he had been told that his mother had died in a car crash…what he would give to keep on believing that. His father's business associates and their children are downstairs cutting the cake, but he is huddled on his bed, trying not to cry his heart out. His door creaks open, and he hears soft footsteps approaching him. It's probably the maid, coming to tell him that his father demands his presence downstairs. But when he feels warm arms enveloping him and breathes in that familiar scent of roses, he finally breaks down and drowns Blair in tears. Surprisingly, she doesn't start yelling at him for ruining her dress, but rather, holds on tighter. Afterwards, they silently agree that this never happened.

---

When he's twelve, Chuck Bass has sex for the first time. With Georgina Sparks. He's trying to move on and forget about Blair—or rather, Blair and Nate because he never sees the former without the latter—but unsurprisingly, he fails. His playboy image is born; he begins a string of one night stands, trying to protect his heart by not giving it to anyone at all, but it's too late.

---

_I brought a heart into the room,  
But from the room I carried none with me._

_---  
_

Seventeen year old Chuck Bass can't believe his luck when he finds himself watching Blair Waldorf strip for him onstage. Well, it's not quite that racy, but it's pretty close. He picks up his glass and toasts her and whichever god that is making this happen, because he's pretty sure this is the best moment of his life. Later, when he's taking her home in his limo, he huskily whispers "You were amazing up there." And when she scoots over closer to him and kisses him, he looses control altogether because even though he knows that she just broke up with Nate, knows that she is emotionally vulnerable right now, knows that she is a little bit drunk, he has been dreaming of this moment all his life. So he seizes it, carpe diem and all.


End file.
